BACK in 1972, a train trip to London from Liverpool took about 2hr 35mins. That was with British Rail, once a national laughing stock.

Still laughing? This September, after 32 years of technological advances and more than #4bn of investment since 1998 alone, that journey time will be cut to . . . 2hrs 27mins.

A stunning eight minute improvement. Thirteen seconds for every one of those long 32 years.

September will at least bring blessed relief for those passengers who still regularly use Liverpool's rail route to the capital.

Average journey times at the moment are just seven minutes under three hours. Many, of course, take much longer.

Leave Liverpool at 7.32pm on any weekday and you will arrive at London Euston at 11.20pm, a soul-destroying three hours and forty-eight minutes later.

By the autumn, improvements in the track south of Crewe will finally allow Richard Branson's Virgin Trains to crank up their new fleet of 53 tilting Pendolino trains to 125mph.

But a lack of track improvements between Crewe and Liverpool means the trains will then have to slow to just 110mph, preventing the possibility of further reductions in journey times.

That has angered Mark Dowd, chairman of Merseytravel and the region's representative on the West Coast Rail steering group.

He said: "We are heading towards Capital of Culture which is just four years away.

"I want some guarantees that Liverpool will not be left out.

"We went to a conference in Carlisle last month and I asked three times for a detailed programme of work between Crewe and Liverpool. They could not give me one."

Cllr Dowd, a former train driver, was actually involved in helping to re-lay some of the track between Liverpool and Runcorn which he says is in particular need of work.

He said: "Just look at the Virgin Trains timetable. It can take 35 minutes to get from Runcorn to Liverpool - that is a nonsense. Something is radically wrong. It's only 13 miles.

"That section of track probably has more wells (faults) in it than just about anywhere else.

"We were told there would be a budget of #13.25bn for the West Coast line but the rail regulator has now brought that down to #8bn and nearly #4bn of that has already been spent.

"Where does that leave the Crewe to Liverpool line?

"If we don't act quickly the pot will be empty and we will have lost out."

Cllr Dowd will meet the Department of Transport soon to press the case for work between Liverpool and Crewe, and is urging local council leaders to join him to pressure the government into action.

That cut in the West Coast budget was an attempt by the rail regulator, Tom Winsor, to finally bring spending on the troubled line under control.

It had become almost a symbol for the failures of the whole British rail industry, a black hole of public money with costs seemingly spiralling well out of control.

But with the budget now seemingly fixed at #8bn until 2009, can Liverpool expect to see any further improvements on its key route to the capital?

Some track work is scheduled to take place in June 2005 which will cut journey times by another three minutes. Re-signalling work in 2007 could shave another three minutes off.

And Merseytravel chief executive Neil Scales recently reported to councillors that a further cut of up to 18 minutes could be possible in 2008 if capacity improvements are completed at Rugby station and in the Trent Valley.

If so, Liverpool trains will no longer have to call at the likes of Nuneaton and Stafford to provide a London service for those towns.

That would allow for a faster average speed and a two hour journey to London would finally be within sight.

Virgin Trains spokesman David Ewart said: "We welcome the improvements that Network Rail and the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) are making between London and Crewe.

"We are all looking forward to September when it will significantly cut journey times between London and Liverpool.

"There is more work to be done and obviously any further cuts in journey time would be welcome.

"We're very aware of Capital of Culture year, and will be even more high profile in 2008 to provide the best possible service both to passengers who travel regularly with us and the extra visitors heading to Liverpool."

The key to reducing Liverpool's journey time to London will be the schedule the rail regulator sets for the SRA to follow over the next few years.

SRA spokesman Jonti Alone said: "This is the largest engineering project in Europe so we're having to do it in stages.

"The first output will of course be in September when we reduce the journey times from Liverpool to London by 26 minutes.

"There is also track work scheduled north of Crewe for completion in summer 2005 which will take another three minutes off and resignalling work in 2007/8 which would also save three minutes from London to Liverpool.

"But it is true that we won't be able to facilitate 125mph running on every section of the line yet, some will be at 110mph.

"The office of the rail regulator has effectively said that we can make cost efficiencies by deferring some west coast work for between 18 and 24 months.

"That could include the remodelling of Rugby station and four-tracking through the Trent Valley which is scheduled for 2007/8. That will be decided in the next two or three weeks but our position has consistently been to resist any deferment of the West coast strategy.

"I'm not sure we have made any estimates on the time benefits of those improvements to Liverpool but it is common sense to say that if you are not stopping at certain stations then there would be a reduction in journey times."

Fares on the Liverpool to London Virgin service range from #24 for a standard-class return booked a fortnight in advance to #273.50 for a business-class return travelling the following day.